REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE
Marie Heuzé, Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing which was also addressed by Spokespersons for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the World Food Programme, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the World Health Organization, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, the UN Refugee Agency, and the International Organization for Migration. Christine Chanet, the Chairperson of the Human Rights Committee, also briefed journalists.
Middle East
Ms. Heuzé said the Secretary-General had yesterday briefed the Security Council in an open meeting on the situation in the Middle East, telling the Council that almost every day brought a new escalation to the bloody conflict that had engulfed Lebanon and northern Israel. The main point in the Secretary-General’s statement was that what was most urgently needed was an immediate cessation of hostilities, for three vital reasons: first, to prevent further loss of innocent life and the infliction of further suffering; second, to allow full humanitarian access to those in need; and third, to give diplomacy a chance to work out a practical package of actions that would provide a lasting solution.
The Secretary-General, repeating that hostilities must stop, said that while they continued, it was imperative to establish safe corridors for humanitarian workers and relief supplies to reach the civilian population. He said the humanitarian task was massive, and must be funded urgently. He stressed that while Hezbollah’s actions were deplorable, and Israel had a right to defend itself, the excessive use of force was to be condemned.
The Secretary-General told the Council that the mission he sent to the region, headed by his Special Adviser, Vijay Nambiar, had suggested elements which, in his opinion, must form the political basis of any lasting ceasefire, and on which they had conducted consultations with the leaders of Lebanon and Israel. The elements included, among others, that: the captured Israeli soldiers would be transferred to the legitimate Lebanese authorities, under the auspices of the ICRC, with a view to their repatriation to Israel and a ceasefire. On the Lebanese side of the Blue Line an expanded peacekeeping force would help stabilize the situation, working with the Lebanese government to help strengthen its army and deploy it fully throughout the area. Meanwhile, the Lebanese government would fully implement Security Council resolutions 1559 and 1680, to establish Lebanese sovereignty and control.
The Prime Minister of Lebanon would unequivocally confirm to the Secretary-General and the Security Council that the Government of Lebanon would respect the Blue Line in its entirety, until agreement on Lebanon’s final international boundaries was reached. The Secretary-General also underlined that a peace track for Gaza was needed – despite the different issues involved – as much as one was needed for Lebanon.
The UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) was reporting that heavy exchanges of fire had continued unabated along the length of the Blue Line. There were 31 incidents of firing close to UN positions during the past 24 hours, with three positions suffering direct hits from the Israeli side. The UN Mission said that some re-supply convoys to its positions were planned for today, but the ability to move would depend on the situation on the ground. Ms. Heuzé recalled that UNIFIL was established in 1978 and at the request of the Government of Lebanon, the Security Council regularly renewed its mandate, which was currently set to expire on 31 July.
Elizabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said the latest situation report on Lebanon was available. The Flash Appeal for Lebanon would be launched in New York on Monday, 24 July. It would cover a three-month period. The Flash Appeal would be made available to journalists as soon as possible, and it would also be immediately posted on www.reliefweb.int.
Ms. Byrs said that the UN was reinforcing its staff on the ground in Lebanon. A civil and military expert had been sent from OCHA Geneva to work with UNIFIL and ensure civil and military liaison on the logistics of assessing the needs in Lebanon. Jan Egeland, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and the Emergency Relief Coordinator, had urged the donor community to respond quickly and positively to the needs in Lebanon. Speaking in a television interview yesterday, Mr. Egeland had especially asked Gulf and Arab countries to provide donations. The European community had announced a 10 million Euro donation and the Islamic Development Bank had also announced a $ 2 million donation. More details were available in the situation report.
Christiane Berthiaume of the World Food Programme said access to the affected populations in Lebanon remained a major problem and WFP called on the Lebanese Government to ensure this access. WFP also called on all the parties in the conflict to guarantee the passage of humanitarian aid and workers. There were different ways to reach the most affected areas and the safe passage of the humanitarian workers carrying aid was essential. WFP had been designated the lead agency in the conflict in Lebanon. Major roads and bridges had been targeted, but there were secondary roads which could be used if security could be ensured. WFP had sent experts to evaluate the logistical situation and the needs. The Government of Lebanon had so far requested sugar, cereals, rice and canned beef. The WFP team had arrived in Beirut last Wednesday to find it a ghost city. Restaurants and shops were closed, the streets were empty, supermarkets opened for short intervals. The UN Flash Appeal would have two parts, the first concerning special operations, which included logistics, communications and security; and the second concerning food aid.
Wivina Belmonte of the United Nations Children’s Fund said access and reaching the reachable and trying to reach the unreachable were among the major challenges in Lebanon right now. The unreachable included those who were displaced, who were trapped in the cross fire, or who were cut off from the outside world. Children were bearing the brunt of the hostilities and made up one third of the fatalities so far. Half of the displaced persons were children. Around 70 schools had been taken over to house displaced people, and there was little access to water and bathrooms. Getting rid of waste disposal was a huge concern. The potential of disease in the medium and long term had to be taken into consideration in addition to the potential of the conflict. Ms. Belmonte said UNICEF had aid arriving by air into Damascus and by road in Amman and then it would be transported to Lebanon. This aid included water purification tablets and kits.
Fadela Chaib of the World Health Organization said the priority was access to persons who had been obliged to leave their homes, especially persons with chronic diseases like diabetes and kidney diseases who needed access to medical care. The need to provide clean drinking water was also essential to avoid water-borne diseases which were dangerous, especially for children. The WHO office in Lebanon had been reinforced. It was very important to figure out the needs and the gaps in the south and in other areas.
Dorothea Krimitsas of the International Committee of the Red Cross ICRC said the second information bulletin on the situation in Lebanon would be issued today. This morning in Beirut, two trucks carrying aid had left for Tyre to distribute aid. ICRC planned to send 24 tons of food and non-food aid, including first aid kits for 4,000 persons, to the affected areas. A surgeon specialized in war wounds would also be going down to Tyre to evaluate the needs in the hospital in Tyre. ICRC had also set up an office in Larnaka.
Matthias Burchard of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) said UNRWA had opened all its schools and facilities in Damascus to house 250 UN staff and dependents, and it had opened all its clinics to Palestinian refugees who had fled from Lebanon into Syria. UNRWA had also opened up its offices in Damascus to facilitate the work of the UN colleagues for their operations in Lebanon. In addition, UNRWA had 3,200 overall area staff in Lebanon and six international staffers working. All health care workers, around 600, had been called up to man all the UNRWA clinics, and 18 schools had been opened as shelters for refugees and Lebanese. UNRWA was doing this with the mandate which allowed it in times of specific emergencies to help the non-refugee population. UNRWA had also been vital in working to evacuate foreigners with its buses and vehicles.
UNRWA could only carry out these tasks to the extent that its capacity and the security situation allowed. Palestinian camps until now had not been specifically targeted or involved in any confrontations. UNRWA was very concerned about the food supplies as it was opening up its shelters but it had no food stocks. UNRWA was preparing for immediate provisions for 10,000 Lebanese families and 60,000 Palestinian refugee families who had fled from the south to the Beirut area until further food stocks were provided. Food prices, especially for vegetables, had increased by 400 per cent in Beirut. In other parts of the country, food prices were reported to have increased up to 50 per cent. The roads connecting Lebanon with Syria were being increasingly targeted so UNRWA was very concerned about this supply route which was the only one which was left. It attached great importance to the appeal by Mr. Egeland to the Israeli Government to allow for humanitarian corridors to be opened immediately.
Concerning the situation in Gaza, Mr. Burchard said this morning, the Israeli Defense Force had left the Maghazi refugee camp which housed 23,000 inhabitants in the centre of the Gaza strip. The result of the last three day incursion was the death of 17 Palestinians and more than 107 wounded. UNRWA was presently assessing the damage but it was already clear that considerable damage had been done, including to UNRWA installations there. Especially worrying was that the residents were not allowed to flee by Israelis during the fighting and had spent most of the past three days lying on the floor. This destruction came a few days after Israeli military campaigns in the north of the Gaza strip had also seriously damaged four UNRWA schools and a health clinic. All the UNRWA buildings were clearly marked and were well known to the Israeli forces. Yesterday, the IDF had dropped leaflets throughout the Gaza strip, warning that it would attack any home that was hiding weapons. UNRWA was very worried about this threat to potentially every home. In the health sector, stocks were sufficient. Life saving treatment had been reduced. The overall infrastructure was greatly destroyed, affecting the provision of water and electricity.
Ron Redmond of the UN Refugee Agency said a 12-member UNHCR emergency team spearheading its operations around the Lebanon crisis began arriving in Damascus yesterday and was expected to head to Beirut either today or tomorrow. The first task of the team in Lebanon would be to reinforce UNHCR staff already carrying out preliminary assessments of the needs of tens of thousands of displaced people who had fled to mountain valleys outside Beirut for safety. The needs of these people, particularly those living in communal buildings such as schools, would become critical if they did not get assistance. Tens of thousands of displaced had found shelter with family and friends, but it was unlikely such a difficult living situation could last for long without outside help. It was vital that there were safe corridors for humanitarian aid to reach those in need, but UNHCR had no guarantees yet of safe passage to the mountain regions.
Jemini Pandya of the International Organization for Migration said IOM was urgently appealing for $ 12 million to provide assistance to the growing numbers of internally displaced people in Lebanon and stranded migrants in need of evacuation assistance. Increasing numbers of governments without the means to help their nationals in Lebanon were requesting IOM to evacuate them. IOM’s appeal would enable it to assist up to 10,000 of the most vulnerable stranded migrants. The IOM appeal would be incorporated into the UN Flash Appeal, and was likely to be revised to reflect the evolving situation.
Ms. Heuzé said the Spokespersons for the Office of the high Commissioner for Human Rights was in the room and he had asked her to announce that a statement by six Special Rapporteurs of the United Nations on the need to respect international humanitarian law and the civilian population in Lebanon would be issued shortly.
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Wivina Belmonte of the United Nations Children’s Fund said that a UNICEF report to be released on Monday, 24 July in London, said that the conflict and violence that had consumed the Democratic Republic of the Congo for nearly a decade had killed more people every six months than were killed by the 2004 Indian ocean tsunami. Estimates placed the total deaths at 4 million, although some experts said the figure was far higher. The report entitled Child Alert: DRC described the effects of war on children and their families as armies and militia groups rampaged across mostly eastern Congo. Many tens of thousands of children had been the victims of direct violence, but the death toll was most exacted by disease and malnutrition as fighting repeatedly drove civilians from their homes and instability prevented their access to aid and health services. Available was an embargoed press release.
Human Rights Committee
Christine Chanet, Chairperson of the Human Rights Committee, said the final conclusions of the Committee on the reports which had been reviewed this session, would be released on Friday, 28 July. [The reports of the Central African Republic, the United States, and the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo were considered during this session]. It had been a precedent that a UN body ensuring administration in an area, like UNMIK in Kosovo, was asked to prepare a report on the implementation of the provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. There had been a number of problems, including that the representative of Serbia had wanted to sit at the podium along with the UNMIK delegation and to present the situation in Kosovo. The situation in Kosovo was very bad. There was conflicting legislation being brought forward by different actors. There was a very difficult situation concerning movement of certain groups. It had been six years since UNMIK took over; it had created some institutions that had not existed before, but the legislation was not affecting the situation on the ground.
Other
Aurelia Blin of the World Trade Organization said next week, there would be a trade policy review of Nicaragua on 24 and 26 July. The Trade Facilitation Negotiating Group would be meeting from 24 to 26 July, and the General Council would be meting on 27 and 28 July. The Director-General of WTO, Pascal Lamy, would be attending the General Council meetings.